A former head of the Royal Navy warned today that Britain needed luck on its side to avoid terrorist attacks.

Lord Alan West backed the stark warning from the head of MI5 that the UK would be subject of attempted attacks.

Lord Alan West

Andrew Parker said police and MI5 had stopped three UK terrorist plots in recent months but added that the UK was facing ‘more complex and ambitious plots’ by extremists, and that they can’t be expected to stop everything.

Responding to the comments, Lord West, a former Government security minister who previously served as First Sea Lord, said: ‘I would say that he’s making a very sensible statement that we know is true.

‘Keeping the whole nation safe all of the time is very difficult because these unpleasant and nasty murderers who wish to change our way of life only have to be lucky once.

‘We have to be lucky all of the time to stop these attacks.

‘Every year we are managing to unravel and stop plots because our agencies work so hard.

‘I don’t think one must be silly about it.

‘We have got to ensure we keep the pressure up on them.

‘We musn’t panic about it. We have got very good agencies working very hard.’